1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to a refrigerator, in which the size of a machine room is reduced without a degradation in the efficiency of a refrigeration cycle, resulting in an enlarged volume of a cooling compartment.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a refrigerator includes cooling compartments, such as a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment, and maintains food, etc. stored in the cooling compartments at a low temperature for a long time by supplying cold air into the cooling compartments. Further, the cold air is generated by a refrigeration cycle apparatus including a compressor, a heat exchanger, etc.
The refrigeration cycle apparatus includes a compressor to compress a refrigerant, a condenser and a heat-radiation fan to condense the refrigerant compressed in the compressor, an expander to expand the condensed refrigerant, and an evaporator to absorb heat from the surrounding air in the process of evaporating the expanded refrigerant so as to create a low-temperature atmosphere.
The refrigerator generally further includes a space referred to as a machine room. The above mentioned compressor, condenser, and heat-radiation fan, etc. are mounted in the machine room.
In more detail, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a configuration of a machine room defined in a related art refrigerator. As shown in FIG. 1, the related art refrigerator includes a machine room 1 provided in a lower end region of a refrigerator body 10 to extend lengthwise in a horizontal direction.
Assuming the related art refrigerator is a double-door refrigerator, the interior of the body 10 is divided into left and right spaces, namely, a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment having predetermined volumes, respectively. Further, the machine room 1 shown in FIG. 1 is located below both the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the machine room 1 includes a compressor 2, a condenser 3, and a heat-radiation fan 4. The machine room 1 is covered with a cover 5. In addition the cover 5 has a suction hole 6 and a discharge hole 7, which are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance for the circulation of air into the machine room 1.
The related art machine room having the above described configuration, however, has a problem of occupying a significantly large area in the refrigerator, and thus reducing the volume of the cooling compartments. Moreover, the above mentioned double-door refrigerator inevitably undergoes a reduction in volume in both the freezing compartment and the refrigerating compartment.
Further, with the configuration that the air moves through the suction hole 6 and the discharge hole 7 formed in the cover 5, as shown in FIG. 1, the movement direction of air blown by the heat-radiation fan 4, the movement direction of air suctioned through the suction hole 6, and the movement direction of air discharged through the discharge hole 7 are perpendicular to one another. Therefore, it is difficult to assure the smooth circulation of air within the machine room 1.
Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 2, a lower end region of a cooling compartment 14, i.e. the space A designated by a dashed line, has a limited volume due to the presence of the machine room 1. The volume of the space A is further limited by a heat-insulating material 13 filled in an outer shell 11 and an inner shell 12 of the body 10.
The cooling compartment 14 includes a rear panel 15 to partition a space for receiving an evaporator (not shown) and a blowing fan (not shown). As shown, the panel 15 includes a cold air suction hole 16 and a cold air discharge hole (not shown), such that cold air blown by the blowing fan is supplied into the cooling compartment 14 through the cold air discharge hole, and be again suctioned to the evaporator through the cold air suction hole 16.
However, because the volume of the space A is limited due to the volume of the machine room 1, and in particular, the lower end of the space A is located at a long distance from the cold air suction hole 16, the related art refrigerator has a problem in that the cold air within the cooling compartment 14 stagnates in the space A, and thus fails to circulate smoothly in the cooling compartment 14.
To solve the above described problems, the space A may be reduced or eliminated, but this method excessively increases the volume of the machine room 1, and on the other hand, excessively decreases the inner volume of the cooling compartment.